Remarks in New York City at a Reception for Delegates to the State Republican Convention

June 17, 1982
I want to tell you, if I could just say one thing -- I know I have to be very careful, because you
have primaries to go and so forth, and so I've got to stay neutral until the candidates are selected
-- except for one: the first Republican woman candidate here in the history of our party. But I
know you'll have a spirited convention, and you'll have a spirited primary. But remember one
thing -- it came from the West, I know, but I'm still singing it -- the greatest thing that's happened
for the Republican Party is, when the chips are down and the decisions are made as to who the
candidates will be, then the 11th commandment prevails and everybody goes to work, and that is:
Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.

George invited us to drop by here before we went home after being at the United Nations earlier
today. I'm always delighted to speak to Republican delegates. I have sort of developed a taste for
that in the summer of 1980. [Laughter] But I'll tell you what I like about my fellow Republicans --
their optimism and their dedication. And George is that kind of a Republican.

I remember back there when everyone told us to write off New York in 1980 and not to waste
our time or effort here because there was no chance. And it was George Clark [New York State Republican chairman] who said, ``Not on your life, nothing doing,'' and he was right. And you know what happened.

But it will be activists like him and you, the folks who organize and vote, who'll determine what
America's going to be like in the years ahead. It's our job to muster the forces of hope and to
show the Nation that change is possible.

Today we're engaged in a fierce struggle with the proponents of negativism, the advocates of
``no.'' They offer the politics of no new ideas, no growth, no incentives to work, no incentives to
save, and no firm security for the Nation. And we are and must remain the proponents of
``yes.''

Yes, we can have a brighter tomorrow. Yes, we can make government work. Yes, we can solve
our problems. We can have a safe and strong America. We can live together in harmony no matter
what our race or religion. And when it comes to our country, ``yes'' is the only word we
understand, 'cause that's what we've grown up with as a country. The colonists said it, that they
could seek a better world. The pioneers said, yes, we can open up the prairies and the frontiers.
Heroes who've said, yes, we will defend freedom to the very end.

In 1982 we Republicans know what we stand for, unlike many of our opponents. After being in
Washington for a year and a half there's one thing I know for sure; there are two sides to every
question. [Laughter] And, come election year, the Democrats turn up on both sides.
[Laughter]

We have an important job ahead, and it's getting our message across. It won't be easy. It's a
tremendous job to do. But in spite of everything you hear, the issues really are with us. And it's up
to us and to leaders like yourselves to become familiar, to know what the answers are and the
arguments are when the battle gets underway. The issues are with us because we're trying to solve
the problems that are facing this nation. And on November 2d, we'll have to get that story across.
And then, I think, they will confirm the mandate that we received in 1980.

But let me just say a word about those issues and the comparison with where our opponents
stand. The liberal leadership of the other party is going to have to explain why they, for 2 years in
a row, fought right down to the wire -- and have in the last few weeks -- against reducing
spending as if that were some kind of a sin against the body politic. It's the liberal leadership of
that same party who first of all didn't want to give you the tax cuts that are scheduled for the next
2 years, but now want to take them away from you on the grounds that somehow they're
responsible for the recession. Well, the truth is we had the recession before we had the program.

And that same leadership has tried to protect every lord and fiefdom in the Federal bureaucracy,
and we have reduced the size of the Federal Government by tens of thousands of people. George
Bush is heading up a task force with regard to those regulations that I talked about during the
campaign, all those unnecessary regulations. And do you know what he's accomplished with that
task force so far in just eliminating unnecessary regulations? The savings to the people of America
in manhours of work filling out papers for the Federal Government have been reduced by 200
million manhours.

I think we offer the people hope, hope that once again we have the chance and the answer to
making America great again. We can set things right, and with people like yourselves here, I
know we're going to do it.

Let me just -- a few of the buzzwords, and then Nancy and I are going to have to run for that
helicopter out there. But you've heard the term over and over again -- ``budget cuts.'' And more
and more you're seeing the sobsister complaints about that we are throwing people out into the
streets and there is no safety net and we're not doing what we should do for the people who must
have our help. Well, in the first place, there have been no budget cuts. I wish there were. I wish
we were in a situation where we could reduce the budget to less than it was the previous year, but
we couldn't do that and preserve the safety net for those people who need help.

So, the '82 budget that we have now is bigger than the budget we inherited in '81. The '83 budget
we're fighting for will be bigger than the '82 budget. But they won't be as much bigger. When we
took office, the budgets were increasing in cost 17 percent a year. We cut that in half with the '82
budget, and we'll make another slice about that big in '83.

But let me just give you some things you might use in an argument about whether we are
mistreating the people who need help. Oh, I know of 8,000 individuals whose social security
checks have been eliminated -- 8,000 of them. We found out they'd been dead for an average of 7
years. [Laughter] They were still getting their check.

But government medical programs -- over the seventies, from 1970 to 1980, increased an average
of 16.9 percent a year in cost. Well, next year in the budget that we're fighting for, it won't be that
much, but it'll be almost 15 percent. Does that sound as if we're denying medical care to those
people who need it?

The budget -- well, let me go back just 20 years, to 1962, to Camelot. [Laughter] John F.
Kennedy -- 29 percent of his budget was for human needs. And in our budget, 51 percent is for
human needs.

They tell us that we're wasting money on defense, that we shouldn't be spending all that money on
defense. Well, I want to tell you, we had a few fellows out there with empty guns as a result of
what had happened in the 4 years before we got here. We had airplanes that wouldn't fly for lack
of spare parts and ships that couldn't leave harbor. Well, things are different now. And I want to
tell you -- [applause] -- but did we, as they say, bankrupt the people for defense spending? In
1962, 46 percent of John F. Kennedy's budget was for defense. In 1983, less than 30 percent of
our budget will be for defense.

Now, that's -- I just think a few figures -- we'll have more for you that you'll enjoy. [Laughter] I
just found one yesterday -- no, sorry -- day before yesterday. Day before yesterday, we got the
Inspector Generals, as they're known, from every department together. When we first got here,
we appointed some people as a task force to help them and said they were a task force against
fraud and waste and extravagance. They were to report to me every 6 months what they have
found. And so the day before yesterday was their third 6-month report. And in just the 6 months
that ended March 31st, they have saved the people of this country $5.8 billion that they found --
[applause] -- --

One little item that just might interest you, to show you what you can find if you look for it: They
found out where we were paying $318 apiece for brackets in one department. And they found out
they were available in a local store for $4 each. [Laughter]

Well, that's enough of that. It's great to see you here, and you carry on and don't get discouraged.
I think that we're on the way.

I got the news this morning. In the month of May, housing starts in the building industry went up
22 percent over the previous -- [applause] -- --

All right, God bless you all, and, George, thank you for letting me be here.

Note: The President spoke at 6 p.m. in the Georgian Ballroom at the Sheraton Centre.

Following his appearance at the reception, the President returned to Washington, D.C.